I keep seeing this narrative that the main reason Trump won in 2016 was Sanders voters who did not support Clinton.

There are some who push this account at the expense of all the other 100 reasons an election turns out one way rather than another.

And I continue to hear over and over the absolutely toxic viewpoint that Sanders is not a Democrat.

Everybody knows Sanders is not a Democrat. The issue is do you want Sanders voters in the Democratic Party?

On one hand Sanders voters are told they failed to vote for Democrats. On the other hand they are told they are not in fact Democrats? Which is it?

I voted for Sanders and sent him $100. My mom in Ohio voted for Sanders as well.

After Clinton was nominated, I consistently made phone calls for the Harris County Democratic Party ticket for the November 2016 ballot , I volunteered roughly 50 hours for a Democratic Houston School Board candidate who won by 37 votes, I paid $120 to become a sustaining member of the Harris County Democratic Party & I've regularly participated in a weekly Thursday phone bank at Harris County Democratic HQ to help defeat very bad Congressman John Culberson.

Beyond that, I've taken part in numerous events led by grass roots groups where there in fact should often have been a presence by local elected Democrats. ( Is there any Houston City Council Democrat you look to for leadership and real energy in building the Democratic Party and fighting for progressive causes?)

1. It makes sense to feel abandoned by the whole thing. For myself, I'll never understand how good folks can look at the clear and substantial poverty in places like my home towns of Houston & Cincinnati and ask so little of the local Democratic Party in response. You don't have to look hard in either city--or in cities across the nation--to see the condition of so many neighborhoods. The same can be said for how Republicans treat rural voters. If you are a Cincinnati liberal or progressive asking yourself why Trump is doing so well, consider how progressivism in Cincinnati elections became defined by if you supported that damned street car or not. What are people thinking to be so remote from everyday life? Here in Houston, I don't get how Houston area Democrats can say nothing about often in trouble State Rep. Ron Reynolds. How can we credibly criticize Trump for low standards when we embrace Ron Reynolds?

3. I believe polls suggesting Clinton is viable in some Southern and Western states more so than seemed likely a few months ago, and that Trump is doing better than expected in some Midwestern and Northeastern states. That's not a prediction on how the election will turn out. But it would not surprise me if Clinton sees Texas as viable into October and that Trump campaigns in Rhode Island.

There is no wave election coming out of revulsion for Trump. If Democrats win the Senate, it will be by one or two seats at most. Democrats will not win the U.S. House in 2016 and will not make substantial gains in state legislative races. People are not going to "wake up" or whatever and punish Republicans for Trump.

You can't give years of false promises to people of color or working people and then just assume they will save you when you are desperate.

What there is right now is the issue of keeping Trump and his extreme followers out of the White House. We each have to decide --and pretty much at this moment--what we are going to do to defeat Trump.

Here is a suggestion for Secretary Clinton--Talk to the Democratic establishment here in Houston and elsewhere in Texas about low turnout majority-minority city council and legislative districts ,where unchallenged long-term incumbents sit on campaign cash to scare off primary challengers and thrive off low turnout and rally around folks like the tainted Texas State Rep. Ron Reynolds.

Even though I back Bernie Sanders, I do support voting for Hillary Clinton in contested states if she is the Democratic nominee. What Republicans would do to everyday people if in full political control is intolerable.

Yet while voting for Clinton in the clear short term solution, it is not so important in the long term. Even if she wins the White House, Clinton represents a failed bipartisan political & economic establishment that can't meet the challenges of economic fairness, social justice and climate change.

Win or lose in 2016, Hillary Clinton and the establishment she represents is not our future.

I'm hopeful about the future because I'm certain of the value of everyday life. The everyday work of freedom is up to each of us.

​Let's focus on the big hopeful view of what we can achieve outside our failed political and economic power structures.

Many Sanders voters are being asked a question by Clinton voters along the lines of "Will you support Hillary if she is the nominee just as I will support Bernie if he is the nominee?"

This question is frustrating. Most Hillary voters have never believed Sanders will win. They are asking us to do something without any real intention of yielding anything themselves.

Here are 3 possible responses to this question--

1. Whatever it is you as a Sanders voter feel you will do in November.

2. A reply of--"Isn't it sufficient for you that I took part in a Democratic primary where nearly every single local candidate was a Hillary supporter? I've not voted away my beliefs enough already?".

3 "I will vote for Hillary. For your part, would you be willing to accept a real change away from the hyper-connected, big money insiders who currently run the Democratic Party as Sanders is calling for?"

Rank and file Clinton voters are good people making a reasonable choice they have every right to make.

But on the other hand--Don't yield an inch. Gain ground instead. Don't be defined by how the establishment views the process. Stay the course.

Please follow me on Instagram. My user name is Neil_Aquino. Please read all of NeilAquino.com ​

My feeling about the Sanders campaign has always been that it is a Jesse Jackson or Pat Buchanan type primary effort that will have victories along the way, make it to the convention and in many ways win the battle to define the future of the party.

I'd encourage Sanders voters not to yield an inch between now and the convention. Our vision remains the one that will prevail.

The rank & file Clinton voter is a friend navigating a high stakes election and who simply feels that Clinton is the best candidate.

Bernie Sanders backing Hillary Clinton on the e-mails shows the unity, pragmatism, imagination & kindness that will win in '16 and move the country to the left beyond '16.

The establishment gets it wrong and keeps score. The rank and file sees the facts & wants kindness and unity.

Step by step, (Though sometimes things happen all at once. You never know when the Wall will fall.) we move forward together.

New friends of all views, or who are not currently involved, are always waiting to be made. Hard work and imagination are connected.

​Let us all stay our course. The issue is not who is running for President. The issue is how we treat each other and how we work hard together and how we imagine a hopeful future. The work of freedom is up to each of us.